Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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308. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will provide in tabular form, on a county basis, the total number of persons who were in receipt of the Covid-19 enhanced illness benefit payment. [8030/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Enhanced Illness Benefit (EIB) was a form of Illness Benefit that was payable to self-employed persons or an employee who was required to self-isolate or had been diagnosed with Covid-19. The enhanced rate of Illness Benefit came to an end on Friday 30 September 2022.

In total, 528,561 individuals received at least one EIB payment. The breakdown by county of these individuals is shown in the table below.

Table 1: Recipients of EIB, by county

Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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309. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection in view of the recommendation of the European Commission in late November 2022 that member states recognise Covid-19 as an occupational disease if contracted by workers in disease prevention, in health and social care, in domiciliary assistance or during a pandemic in other sectors where there is an outbreak and where a risk of infection has been proven, if she plans to review the current Government position on the issue; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7550/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department provides a suite of income supports to those who cannot work due to illness or disability. It is important to note that eligibility for these payments is generally not dependent on the type of the illness or disability but on the extent to which a particular illness or disability impairs or restricts a person’s capacity to work.

Occupational Injuries Benefit is an income support provided by my Department to those who got injured at work or travelling to and from work, or who contracted a prescribed disease at work.

Covid-19 does not constitute a prescribed disease or illness as set out in the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 as it does not meet the criteria laid down in the Act. Section 87 (2) of the Act states that a disease or injury shall be prescribed for the purposes of this section in relation to any insured persons, where the Minister is satisfied that—

(a) it ought to be treated, having regard to its causes and any other relevant considerations, as a risk of their occupations and not as a risk common to all persons, and

(b) it is such that, in the absence of special circumstances, the attribution of particular cases to the nature of the employment can be established or presumed with reasonable certainty.

The decision on whether to recognise an illness as an occupational illness is a Member State competence. My Department is aware of the recommendation of the European Commission in this matter and is consulting with other relevant departments on the matter.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.